82 Reviews

Traveller Rating

Review Overview

A really good hotel, could find no faults - like cracks in the plastered walls, rusty shower curtain rail, fluff under the bed, the things moaning Brits love to harp on about. Don't go on holiday you sad people just stay at home or in the loony bin wherever you live.
Sun bed towels are provided but don't bother paying extra for a sea view room unless you are going to spend most of your holiday on the balcony. Top Tip ask for the 7th floor (top) then you won't have to listen to the click clack of high heels all night.

This was our 4th visit and the welcome was as lovely as ever, staff are friendly and helpful, rooms are a bit tired but very clean and comfortable, especially the beds! the hotel had less than 300 guests which meant no early rises for sunbeds etc and very few children. The hotel is just a stroll from the Port, the beach was a bit of a mess as we arrived at the tail end of a 3 day storm but they soon cleaned up the seaweed. Pool and garden areas are great to relax in (especially being quieter than normal). Food was very good, always a big choice of Tunisian and international dishes. The Tunisians really want to have the tourists back.

It took about 35 minutes to get to the hotel from the airport. We had a form to fill in at reception and were then showed to our room.

Breakfast here is really good in our opinion. They have on sale fresh orange juice which is charged per glass but there are plenty of other juices for free. On your right is the bread counter with different types of white and brown bread and also tea, coffee and hot milk table. The coffee is very strong so i used to put about half an inch in the bottom of my cup then top it up with hot milk - lovely. There are different kinds of jams,creams, yogurts,and butter or marg,then bacon, tomatoes, sausages, beans, eggybread and potato pieces. They do all the fresh cooking with about three or four chefs making omelettes of you choice, boiled eggs,fried eggs,or you can also get scrambled eggs.There is also a toaster here for bread or waffles if you prefer. Breakfast is served between 6 and 10 so if your an early riser you don't have to hang about waiting for it to open.

Lunch is served in the main restaurant which is located at the other end of the lobby. There is always at least one choice of soup,sometimes two here along with chips, pizzas, different kinds of meat, salad, ice cream and much more. Lunch times are from 1230-2pm.

Evening meals are also taken in the main restaurant and are similar to the lunch menu,but there are a lot more choices.

The hotel is located abought 60 or 70 metres from the beach which is reached by walking past the swimming pools just outside the hotel doors. The sun beds are free but everyone tips the man who brings them down to where you want to lie.

The beds round the swimming pool are also free but if you want a matress this will cost you 2 dinars.

The beach is lovely.

The room was cleaned by the maid every day and towels and pillow cases were also changed every day. The hotel staff on the whole were very nice, polite people who would always speak to you without looking for tips.

The only problem with this hotel is the entertainment or should I say lack of it! A duo on drums and key board play in the main bar area every other night. The other nights are kareoke and bingo.

All in all we had a nice relaxing two weeks here which we certainly enjoyed and if they could get the entertainment sorted out it would be brilliant.

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Recommended

Dave

finest in Tunisia

6 years 11 months ago

The Maharba Palace had just reopened after the revolution and we were amongst the first returning tourists. The hotel did have quite a lot of issues during this first week most of which were dealt with as soon as it was possible. The hotel manager met guest in his woollen overcoat to see how we all were (heating took a while to take effect!). All the staff were very happy to see new sources of baksheesh arrive.

Hotel is among the finest in Tunisia! The Maharba Palace is spotless and well managed. Most of the fixtures are dated but this is true of nearly every hotel in Tunisia. The food was very bland and some dishes were only luke warm (Tunisian dishes).

If you want a European 5 star stay in Europe. This Hotel is of a good standard and anyone who is relaxed in their attitude would have a wonderful stay here.

This was our 2nd visit to the Marhaba Palace, we visited at Christmas and enjoyed it so much, although this time was a lot busier with the English school holiday week which meant a very busy pool/beach area with beds being in short supply unless you joined the very early brigade. The staff are very friendly and helpful, small tips go a long way - this seems to be the norm in Tunisia. We had a problem at Christmas with our booking but the Reception Manager sorted it all out for us, he was very good this time and we got the room we wanted. I have read some negative reports on other sites re the staff being unfriendly but in our opinion they cannot do enough for you. The food is excellent with lots of choice, the rooms are a bit old and tired but perfectly clean and the beds are the most comfortable. A lovely holiday and we will be going back again.

First time to Tunisia ,and for me the right choice in hotel , everybody was so helpful , pleasant. The hotel is in a great location , 5 minute walk either along the beach or on the main road takes you to the harbour, the " irish bar " which is used by local people aswell as tourists is opposite the hotel , great staff and good company . the grounds of the hotel are wonderful , also the pool area is a well kept pretty area.Food was varied and plentiful , something for everyone's taste, at breakfast , there is somebody to cook your eggs as you want then , scrambled, fried or omelette . entertainment is very dull especially for children as there is none in the evenings , pianist , band or kareoke on alternative nights .

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Travel operator:
thomson

Recommended

Andy

8 years 8 months ago

Our first visit to Tunisia, had visited Morocco in 2007. Much more westernised in Tunisia. The Marhaba Palace is in an ideal location about 5 mins walk from the harbour at Port El Kantaoui. The hotel was spotlessly clean, staff were all very friendly. The bar was not overly expensive when you compare it to spain or cyprus. A small beer costs just under

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Travel operator:
Thomas Cook

Recommended

Ronknee

8 years 11 months ago

We don

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Thomsons

Recommended

Leanne

8 years 11 months ago

Had a great stay here and would come back again. Cannot comment on the food as was only b&b (breakfast OK) but the hotel staff were very kind and polite.The hotel was very clean and the maid service excellent!

The only downfall for me was the theft of my sunglasses.I left them on a sunbed, took my child to the park, then they were gone when I came back 45 minutes later.This was very dissapointing!

Well here goes! Marhaba Palace PEK......first impressions were very good.

Very large hotel with grand sweeping driveway and impressive entrance. Huge marble cathedral sized reception with massive crystal chandeliers and fountains with lots of nice sofas and chairs dotted around.

Staff were very helpful and told us to abandon the luggage and booking in until we had eaten our evening meal (arrived at about 9pm). Nice suprise as we weren't expecting to be fed on arrival. Booking in was quick and painless and we were in our room on the 3rd floor within 15 minutes. This is where it started to go a bit wrong!

The floor of the room was swimming in water from the fridge de-frosting and there were bulbs blown so the room was really dark. They had crammed an extra bed into the room and it was up against the balcony door so we couldn't get out onto it. If we moved the bed away from the window we had to climb over them to get into bed as there was no room to walk round them! I went down to reception and to be fair they sent someone straight up to sort the water out and mend the light bulbs. The spare bed however was a different matter. It was badly broken and the mattress had totally collapsed and was stained and dirty. By this stage we were very tired and decided to make the best of it and sort it out the following morning.

I have to say now that our initial thoughts were that it was more 1 star than 4 star based on the room. I will now defend the hotel and the Thomson rep Ash. I very quietly and discreetly had a word with the rep after the welcome meeting and explained the problems we had. I said that I would be satisfied if the bed was replaced and the room cleaned up a bit but he was not happy just to do that and went to speak with the manager of the hotel. Less than 10 minutes later a porter was moving our bags up to a larger room on the 6th floor with fantastic views across the sea and masses more room. We were really impressed by the way it was dealt with and the sincere apologies that we got. It pays not to make too much of a fuss initially I think!

One quick tip though...the air conditioning is not brilliant and needs to be on for a good while before it takes effect. The only problem is that to activate the power in the room you have to slot the room key fob into a cradle near the door and when you leave the room and take the key out the air con stops working, so, we just removed the fob from the key ring and left it in the cradle all the time and just took the key with us!! The hotel aren't too keen on people doing that but the room was lovely and cool every time we got back to it!!

After this the holiday was very good. The hotel is large and very clean with lots of amenities like a well stocked shop (reasonable prices) 4 different bars (limited choices of alcohol of course and not that cheap)a hairdresser, a well equipped fitness centre and massage/spa. The restaurants were very attractive and if anyone went hungry at breakfast or dinner then it was their own fault. The choice of food was enormous ranging from fresh omelettes, cereals, fruit and cold or hot meals for breakfast to delicious soups and 5 meat choices and salads, full cold meats and cheeses, ice creams and delicious sweets for dinner. I couldn't fault the food at all. You kept your own table for dinner throughout the stay and your own waiter which was good. Although we were only half board the choice of food at lunchtime was also good with a nice menu at the beach cafe.

I can also thoroughly recommend the crepe bar near the pool. Lovely fresh crepes with a choice of fillings (cheese, pineapple,honey, chocolate etc) for only 3.5 Dt ( about